Basic Ideas about English Grammar………………Aijaz Arain

92-3132878345 Hyderabad-Sindh

I. Five basic forms of the sentences:

1. S + V
2. S + V + C
3. S + V + O
4. S + V + O + OC
5. S + V + Oi + Od

II. Five kinds of the sentence ( Classified by use) 以用途區分

1. Declarative sentences 敘述句
2. Interrogative sentences 疑問句
3. Imperative sentences 祈使句
4. Exclamatory sentences 感嘆句
5. Optative sentences 祈願句

III. Four kinds of the sentence (Classified by structure)以結構區分

1. Simple sentences
2. Compound sentences
3. Complex sentences
4. Compound and Complex sentences.

IV. The elements of the sentence

1. Subject
2. Predicate 述語
3. Object
4. Complement
5. Modifier
6. Connective
7. Independent elements

V. Parts of Speech: Noun, Adjective, Adverb, Verb, Preposition, Conjunction,

Interjection, Pronoun.

VI. Phrases: Noun Phrase: how to swim, to study a language, speaking slowly,
Pronoun Phrase: each other, one another
Verb Phrase: take place, look forward to… have been working
Adjective Phrase: A bird in the hand, The pen on the table…
Adverbial Phrase: The meeting began at 5.
Prepositional Phrase: ( Used as adjective or adverb)
1. 介系詞片語 The pen on the table is mine.
I put the book on the table.
2. 片語介系詞 because of, owing to, due to, as for,
in spite of, in front of, by means of, with a view to,

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 for the purpose of…
Conjunction Phrase: as soon as, as well as, as if,
He talks as if he knew the secret.
Interjection Phrase: By heaven! My God!
VII. Clauses
1. Noun clause: A. That + S +V B. Wh + S + V C. Whether, if +S+V
That he is a good man is a fact.
I am not what I was ten years ago.
I don’t know whether he will come or not.
2. Adjective clause:
Those who live in a glass house should not throw stones.
3. Adverbial clause:
You may go where you like.
When I was ten, I knew how to cook.

VIII. Forms
1. Noun: Noun, Noun phrase, Noun clause, Infinitive, Gerund, The +
Adjective
2. Adjective: Adjective, Adjective Phrase, Adjective Clause, Infinitive, Present
Participle, Past Participle
3. Adverb: Adverb, Adverb Phrase, Adverb Clause,

IX. What can be used as S, O, C.

S: N, Pronoun, The adjective, To + V, Gerund (V+ing), N Phrase, N Clause
O: N, Pronoun, The adjective, To + V, Gerund (V+ing), N Phrase, N Clause
C: (A) SC: N, Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb, To + V, Gerund (V+ing),
Present Participle, Adjective phrase, N Phrase, N Clause
(B) OC: N, Adjective, To + V, Present Participle, Past
Participle ,Adjective phrase

X. Some Common Patterns in TOEFL

1. S + V, (although, when, if, because, unless, since, whenever..) + S + V.
2. S + V, (but, and, or, so, whereas, for…) + S + V
3. _______ (N, Prepositional phrase).  Choose S + V
4. (To + V, In + V, Ving, Ved, Appositive) _____.  S + V
5. Noun (precedent) + ( that, when, where, why, how, which) ____.  S + V

Five basic forms of the sentences:

1. S + V Birds fly.
John usually sleeps only 5 hours a day.
It is raining heavily.
Mary came in.
This machine does not work well.
Birds fly in the sky.
You cannot just depend on other people.

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2. S + V + C You look beautiful. She feels good.
(be, seem look, appear, feel, smell, taste, keep, remain, prove,
become, get, grow, turn, come, go, fall, run)
He acted as the manager of the company. This word functions as
the subject.
3. S + V + O Everybody loves me. The car knocked the boy down.
A. (1) (to + V) attempt, begin, cease, decide, endeavor,
expect, fear, forget, help, hope, intend, learn, like, love,
mean, need, offer, plan, prefer, pretend, promise,
propose, refuse, start, try, undertake, want, wish,
(2) be, seem, appear, prove, turn out, happen, chance,
care, long, agree, hesitate, fail, come, go, run, stop, etc.
I don’t know where to go.
B. V+ing(Gerund) (1) admit, avoid, consider, enjoy,
escape, excuse, finish, give up, cannot help, mind, miss,
practice, regret, cannot stand, stop, suggest, etc. (2)
(both gerund and infinitive) cannot bear, begin, endure,
forget, hate, intend, like, love, mean, need, prefer,
remember, start, try, want, etc. (3) V+ing (participle)
come, remain, stand, etc. We stopped smoking. They
came running.
C. that clause: acknowledge, admit, believe, command,
confess, declare, demand, demonstrate, deny, doubt,
expect, explain, fear, feel, hear, hope, imagine, know,
mean, notice, perceive, prefer, propose, report, request,
say, see, show, suggest, suppose, think, understand,
urge, wish, etc.
He suggested that we should leave right now.
We complained that the place was too noisy.
It seems that Jane is very smart.
D. wh clause: ask, discover, discuss, doubt, find out,
imagine, know, reveal, say, show, suggest, tell,
understand, wonder, care, marvel, mind, etc. Do you
know who he is? I wonder whether he will come or not.
E. prep + O (pron. or n): buy, cash, choose, cook, get,
leave, make, order, play, reach, save, spare, etc.
I explained the problems to my boss.
The police accused him of theft.
Thank you for your kind letter.
She gave the book to that boy.
4. S + V + Oi + Od A. O + O : accord, afford, allow, ask, bring, buy,
cash, cause, choose, cook, deny, do, fetch, get, give, grant, hand, leave, lend,
make, offer, order, owe, pass, pay, play, promise, reach, read, refuse, render,
save, sell, send, show, sing, spare, teach, tell, wish, write, etc. She gave them
the drinks. He offered me a ride. Will you do me a favor?

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 B. O + that clause: (1) tell, show, teach, promise
(2) assure, convince, inform, persuade, remind,
warn. I told him that he was wrong. She promised
me that she would finish the project by 10. They
informed us that they would be late.
C. O + wh clause: ask, show, teach, tell, inform: I
asked him when the tower had been destroyed.
Could you tell me how long you are going to stay?
D. O+ wh + to V: My father told me how to
assemble the bike.

5. S + V + O + OC A. O + C: keep, leave, find, make, render, elect, appoint,

call, name, think, consider, believe, suppose, feel, know, judge, report,
declare, paint, dye, boil, cut, push, throw, etc.
She keeps her house clean.
Everybody considers him a good man.
He pushed the door open.
B. O+ as + C: accept, acknowledge, characterize,
choose, describe, know, interpret, rank, recognize, regard,
represent, take, treat, view, etc.
We regard him as the leader.
She described her son as really clever.
C. O+ p.p. : feel, find, hear, make, see, want, wish, etc.
She heard her name called.
D. O+ Ving: (1) see, hear, feel, find, behold, watch,
observe, perceive, notice, catch, keep, leave, have, set,
send. (2) understand, remember, recollect, imagine,
fancy, hear of, like, hate, mind, object to, etc.
Someone saw the man running away.
I don’t like the boys playing about here.
I cannot understand my daughter saying so.
E. O+ to V: (1) advice, allow, ask, beg, cause, command,
compel, encourage, entreat, expect, force, get, help,
impel, implore, instruct, invite, lead, leave, like,
mean, oblige, order, permit, persuade, promise,
require, teach, tell, tempt, urge, want, wish, etc. (2)
believe, consider, declare, feel, find, guess, judge,
know, prove, report, see, suppose, think.
We cannot allow the man to drink wine here.
He declared himself to be a Republican.
F. O+ V root: (1) make, let, bid, have, help (2) see, hear,
feel, find, know, behold, watch, observe, perceive,
notice, etc. Let me come in. I saw the boy steal the
box.